Has anyone come up with a way to open the program without inserting disk #4?

yes. I don't remove it from the drive between sessions.

yes

Thats what i do too, im not using any of these cracks for no cd, who knows what they will mess up.OHN

here you are chapsedit; Honestly, this No CD patch is working fantastic.

Considering the amount of time I've seen the link posted over the past couple of days, I would suspect it's a matter of hours, if not minutes, before Microsoft kills the link.NO-CD patches scare me. I find cracks and hacks seem to fall into three categories:~"Fake Cracks", which are simply trojans renamed to match that sought after program some pirate wants to steal.~Real cracks with a payload. Some are No-CD cracks, targeted at Pirates and legit users (simply trying to save wear and tear on their equip), others are false reg keys. This is one you really have to watch out for--some of these "cracks" are being distributed by vendors or by people who think they are executing some type of street justice. The payload may do something minor, like trash your PC, or something major, like steal your identity.~The last category is maybe one percent of the warez arena--real cracks by people either fed up with copy protection, or by people who live under the assumption that I can't make a living in the software industry--IOTW, that I should give it away for free.I want to ask users of these cracks a question: Do you have enough programming experience and skills to know with one hundred percent certainty that someone isn't messing with your system behind the scenes? I'd argue that most users HERE seeking the crack are legit users, wishing to either save wear and tear on their equip, or simply seeking to freeup their CD-ROM. Many payloads are timed--your system seems fine today, but a week from now, a month from now, or on the anniversary of the Wright Brother's flight, your system becomes an open door or becomes a paperweight. All I am saying, is beware. I wouldn't trust any .exe made for this purpose by someone I don't know, unless it was debugged and reverse engineered, and verified clean by someone I do know. I code, but even I'm not a good enough programmer to know whether one can trust something like this....Thoughts?-John

John,If I was this paranoid about a crack or anything I downloaded off the internet, I might as well turn my computer off and never start it up again. This type of code could be buried in anything.Ed

Yes, I use Alcohol 120% to create a virtual drive, create an absolute image of the CD, mount it to the virtual drive (can be done automatically at computer startup) and go. Works perfectly! No cracks, no problem. You can even make a backup copy of disc 4 from the image or virtual drive.Only thing is, this is payware but there is a 30 day trial period to see if it works on your computer. Find out more at www.alcohol-software.com ( I am in no way affiliated with this firm, but it does work ).Larry Shinn

John,Now I know why you didn't respond to my PM! I trust 'em, always have, always will. Everyone has to decide for themselves.Hope this helps,JimActiveSky Support

>Considering the amount of time I've seen the link posted over>the past couple of days, I would suspect it's a matter of>hours, if not minutes, before Microsoft kills the link.Believe me John - they couldn't care less.>I want to ask users of these cracks a question: Do you have>enough programming experience and skills to know with one>hundred percent certainty that someone isn't messing with your>system behind the scenes? Yes - tyhe methodology of cracking Safedisc protection has been available for some time - you just have to know where to look.>I'd argue that most users HERE>seeking the crack are legit users, wishing to either save wear>and tear on their equip, or simply seeking to freeup their>CD-ROM. Agreed.>Many payloads are timed--your system seems fine>today, but a week from now, a month from now, or on the>anniversary of the Wright Brother's flight, your system>becomes an open door or becomes a paperweight. All I am>saying, is beware. I wouldn't trust any .exe made for this>purpose by someone I don't know, unless it was debugged and>reverse engineered, and verified clean by someone I do know. >I code, but even I'm not a good enough programmer to know>whether one can trust something like this....>I am and I have no problem with it. I also know so many different ways to corrupt your system if I was so inclined that you would never turn your system on. Wireless systems are even easier to corrupt.The operative thing here is "wanting to corrupt" your system. Most true hackers are not even aware small fry like you and me exist - they aim at the big boys - but the paranioa exists and anti virus, anti ad, etc developers make millions on it.To each his own but you should lighten up and enjoy your hopbby.Just MHO,Vic

Keep in mind that you have voided your license to use FS2004 by using this crack.The EULA states specifically that circumventing the copy protection system is a violation of your license.Suggest you read it...